blasted boehner's offer as much as the republicans blasted the president's. people like to say, oh, they're going to posture, but behind the scenes they're working it out. they're not. >> i hear chuck todd reported yesterday behind the scenes a top aide to barack obama, willie geist. and this -- i don't -- i'm not really good at reading the tea leaves. maybe this is good, maybe this is bad. but a top obama aide yesterday told chuck todd that if the republicans -- if these republicans were in power when abraham lincoln were there, there would still be slavery. does that help the process move along? or does it hurt? i don't really know -- >> reading between the lines. >> i know one direction, i know boy bands. >> reading between the lines, that's probably a bad omen. we do have four weeks, though. >> that's bad. >> absolutely. we have, i believe, we have 27 negotiating days. until the year end. >> there is a rule in life. >> what is that rule? >> i think that slavery analogies and hitler jokes never work out well. >> you don't do that. >> never end well. >> usually they have a bad, you kno